School lunches - a pleasant memory?

In my area and I don't know whether this applied to all over the country. and rationing was in place, not everyone was entitled to school dinners My parents were both at work, compulsory at that time for women, but my father was able to meet me at midday and would take me to what was known as a British Restaurant.
My favourite meal was corned beef and mashed potatoes followed by steamed suet jam roly poly.

Loved school dinners, except the boiled beef and carrots in greasy thin gravy. Loved the liver, the cabbage and brussel sprouts. At my school we were served with containers on our tables for 8 pupils and we served ourselves. I was known as the kid with hollow legs as although I was as thin as a rake I could finish the whole table's brussel sprouts, and in our teens all their puddings for those who were experiencing puppy fat. I'm sure that's why I eat fast, consuming 8 portions of chocolate pudding and a pint of custard at a sitting took some doing!! Still my friends never got told off for not cleaning their plates!!

School dinners were not too awful, apart from the cabbage. This was carefully put in a paper bag and dropped behind the radiator at the end of the table.

I remember in the 50s that there was a potato shortage ? Due to some sort of potato blight. We were given slices of bread with our meals instead of potatoes.

A class mate was a Hindu and I remember asking her about being served beef which, of course, her religion forbade. Apparently, there had been a concession granted because there was no way of telling what sort of meat we were being served!

I was one of only three girls in our class of thirty who never ate a school dinner - we walked home at lunch time each day. The other girls said that everyone should experience a school dinner just once in a lifetime.
On Friday mornings we had a double cookery lesson. The three of us walked home with our 'makes' in baskets while the others complained that they had to eat theirs!

I loved school dinners in my grammar school. Curries, casseroles and my favourite cheese pie that I have tried (but failed) to recreate . Does anyone have a recipe for authentic school dinners cheese pie ?

Our school cook made the most marvellous puddings - every child's dream. She wasn't so good at things like mince - it was frankly disgusting, especially the day a class-mate found a dead and boiled wasp in hers!

Anything bought ready made, like sausage rolls or bridies with baked beans was good, though.

All through school we sat a whole form at one table with two prefects at the head, who served the food, and a teacher on duty to keep the noise level down.

Overcooked cabbage, yuk, mutton, and regular frogspawn pudding. My favourite though was Manchester tart

We had a dragon of a dinner lady at my primary school who wouldn’t let you go out and play till your plate was cleared. I hate veg and used to gag trying to eat it all alone in the hall. Still don’t eat veg and I’ve been one of the healthiest people I know

Can't remember much of the food apart from the gristle which we were forced to eat.
The worst bit was that we were distributed daily at our grammar school on different tables with the most frightening members of staff. We were required to keep the conversation going with this person for the entire meal...... Any wonder that I still witter now

I have never been able to eat rhubarb. When I was 5, one of the cruel horrible nuns at my catholic school forced me to eat some, despite my saying it would make me sick. I duly vomited all over her and was punished for naughtiness!

I loved school dinners especially fish and chips. Lovely crunchy batter on the fish. One day I bit into a piece of batter and there was something hard in it. It was a giant fish-hook! (The type to catch huge cod at sea.)
I was so lucky I didn’t choke on it. I took it to the headmaster and he called the chief cook who promptly accused me of putting it there myself. At least the headmaster believed in me and said I couldn’t possibly have found a hook like that. I was only twelve and was made to sign a disclaimer. My Dad was mad at the school for asking me to sign it. Still liked the fish and chips though!

I had a love/hate relationship with school dinners.
I was a picky eater as a child and there were lots of things I didn't like. When I was in primary school I went home for lunch as we lived near the school. But my secondary school was further away so I was given dinner money each day. I had a dinner on Mondays (sausage & mash); Wednesdays (shepherds pie) and Fridays (fish and chips). But on Tuesdays & Thursdays I either went to the local Pie & Mash shop or I had two puddings instead of a main course. I asked my favourite dinner lady if I could have a second pudding if I helped her clean the tables at the end of the sitting. She agreed!

I adored school puddings (and still do) - spotted dick with custard; jam roly poly; suet pudding; lemon meringue pie; ice cream; rice pudding and jam..... mmmmmm

Loved my school dinners. I have never had such good roast potatoes since. And the jam roll-poly - to die for

I remember lying in bed praying for some way that I shouldn’t have to eat school lunch. It was a convent school and the kitchens were a long way from the refectory so everything was cold by the time it was put on our cold plates. My greatest dread was overcooked cauliflower in thick white sauce with a deep skin. Second was tapioca though I would admit that the sisters must have had a good baker among them and Sally Lunn was one of many favourites.

I loved my school dinners. We had lovely mashed potato most days with a pie or meat. We also had good stew once a week. The puddings were delicious, pink custard with chocolate sponge, apple crumble and custard were favourites. At Christmas we got a proper turkey dinner with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pud and custard. This was in the fifties and the women who ran the canteen were good plain cooks. I would say the dinners were the only good thing about my school!

We had a wonderful pudding -Isle of Wight pudding - and I have looked for a recipe but not found it 8-(. The worst thing was semolina

I remember complaining to my Dad that one of the dinner ladies was stirring a huge vat of mashed potatoes with an oar, whilst smoking a ciggy with a long ash on. Ash then fell in the vat. I didn't eat the mash that day! Dad was a school Governor and told the Headmistress, who suddenly became most solicitous towards me as she hadn't known he was my Dad! I liked her even less after that, and as for Fagash Lil in the kitchen, I think she got a good telling off.

I never had school dinners. The kitchens adjoined our playground and the smell of cabbage that pervaded the playground every morning, the sight of grey vans delivering large vats of stuff, and the fact that no-one seemed to have a good word to say about them, convinced me that I didn’t want to start! When I moved on to FE college, the catering moved up to a whole new level and became something to look forward to.

Only had school dinners for one term. Absolutely hated them, and the school dinner lady's nickname was 'Hitler', as she wouldn't let you leave the table until every mouthful had gone, regardless as to whether you liked something or not.

Every day except Friday meant sitting over gristly meat I couldn’t eat, then having to down the pudding in 5 minutes when the dinner ladies finally gave in and let me leave it. Friday fish or cheese pie was a welcome relief-I got to enjoy a leisurely pud and have time to play. I loved the puddings -milk puddings, sponge or suet jam rolypoly with custard. I wasn’t a particularly fussy eater but I’ve never been able to eat mince since, stew meat must be carefully cut up by me and the most minuscule piece of gristle in a sausage means I can’t finish it.

Meant to add, when I moved to Lancashire and had a school meal as a teacher in 1986 I ordered the fish pie. When it arrived, it was a layer of mashed potato over tinned pilchards, still with the spine and fins. I was disgusted, but that was the menu for the Asian children who didn’t eat meat.

I loved school dinners, I came from a very poor family of 9 and if we didn't eat school dinners, we did not eat
My favourites were beef crumble bake and Hungarian Goulash , for pudding it was a toss up between chocolate sponge and green mint sauce, or treacle pudding. Yum
The only food I did not like and struggled to eat was prunes and custard.

Some people have mentioned the seating arrangements. At our grammar school, we had tables of 4, and could sit where we wanted and leave when we'd finished. The teachers sat along the edge of the dining area on a long table. If any announcement was to be made, they would bang on the table and everyone would shut up and listen.

Occasionally, if the salt in the salt pot on the table had got damp, someone would bang it on the table, and it was quite embarrassing when everyone suddenly went quiet, thinking the teachers had an announcement to make.

We had servers too you became one in what’s now known as years 5&6. Liver would have been my nightmare meal. Chicken Marengo a favourite.I have also been a School cook. The children ate healthy meals at my school as I planned menus. I hid veg in all sorts of things . Then along came Jamie Oliver!! We then had what he called healthy meals which children wouldn’t eat. The amount of waste was appalling.

Hadn’t finished message!! The majority of the children were free school dinners and in some cases the only food they got. So they weren’t really eating anything.